Simpler Times Part II
by Millz66
Summary: A continuation of Simpler Times. Loosely based of The Kissing Booth (Book and Movie)
1. Chapter 1

Noah:

Looking at the faces of my family's utter shock after I presented my baby girl to them was not surprising. I had expected it; you don't suddenly come home with a baby and everyone is jumping for joy.

My mom was the first to rush over to me and take the little girl out my arms. "Oh my gosh, Noah she's beautiful." She gushed while my dad came and stroked her hair.

"Thanks mom." I replied with a huge grin on my face. Grace was finally meeting her grandparents and it couldn't make me any happier. I watched on as my parents fussed over her for a while before I looked over to Lee, Elle and their partners. I noticed Lee side-eyeing Elle, he looked like he was waiting for whatever reaction would come out of her. It wasn't long before Elle rushed out the door, I couldn't really tell from my position, but it looked like she was in tears. Dylan rushed after her which made Lee and Rachel more relaxed.

They both walked over towards my parents. "What was that about?" I asked Lee, him fully knowing I meant Elle.

"Urm, nothing." Lee replied, I could tell it was something. I also picked up on the vibes between Elle and Dylan, they weren't good. Now that I was home I could focus on not only protecting Grace but also protecting my family once again. "So, you're a dad now, huh?" Lee said again, peering over my mom's shoulder to get a look at Grace.

"Yeah." I looked over to my daughter and smiled "that makes you an uncle."

Lee produced a massive cheesy grin on his face "that means I'm the fun one. Tough luck brother." He patted me on the shoulder. Before Grace I would have retaliated somehow but now I had someone dependant on me, I had almost given up the fighting.

Grace then began to cry, I took her from my mom's arms and slowly rocked her while whispering her favourite song that Olivia would always sing to her. Once the song had finished and I looked up again to my family, I saw shocked faces once again, but my mom was almost in tears. "Mom don't cry." I said, not wanting this to turn into a family crying fest.

"I'm not. I'm not." She replied, wiping her eyes with her hands "My son is a dad and I'm a grandma." She finished with horror.

"Don't worry you don't look that old yet." I teased. "We'd love to say," I said while motioning to Grace in my arms "but she needs a nap and so I do." I chuckled slightly.

My parents, Lee and Rachel said goodbye and I headed off home.

~#~#~#~

I had woken up from just over an hour nap, I walked out the master bedroom and to the next room down which had become the nursery. I peered over the edge of the crib and saw Grace still sleeping soundly, her jet lag was going to kill me in the next week or so. I decided she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, so it was a perfect time to call Olivia back in London. I picked up my phone and dialled her over 5000 miles away. She picked up on the 4th ring.

 _"_ _Hey"_

 _"_ _Hey, calling to say we made it safe. I've already shown her to my parents and she's currently napping." I informed the mother of my child._

 _"_ _You're in for a tough few days then" I heard her chuckle on the other side of the phone. "How was your family's reaction?"_

 _I thought for a second how to explain what had gone down "everyone was shocked of course." Olivia hummed on the other side "but mom and dad were almost crying with happiness. Lee was happy sort of too …" I paused._

 _"_ _And I'm guessing Elle was there?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, she ran out with tears." I had to be straight with her and Olivia knows that Elle probably still has some feelings for me._

 _"_ _Poor girl. Your childhood crush coming home for the first time in 2 years with his daughter, must be hard." Olivia could still amaze me, even though some would call her and Elle 'rivals in love', she still was her usual kind and sweet person. One of the things I loved most about her._

 _"_ _Yeah …" there was an uncomfortable silence, I knew she wanted to tell me something but didn't know what. "What do you want to tell me." I thought I'd come straight out and say it._

 _"_ _God" she groaned "you know me too darn well." I chuckled. "A position has opened up, which if I take will shorten the time I'm required to stay before I quit." Before we left London, me and Olivia had had a long conversation about her quitting the secret and unstable lifestyle and moving on. She had agreed, mainly due to Grace of course, but she was under contract, so we were looking at at-least a year, maybe 2 before she could fully leave._

 _A new contract that would bring closer the time she could leave, to me there didn't seen anything wrong with that. "That sounds good?" I asked in an unsure tone._

 _There was a lengthy pause on the phone "It's a red contract due to last 7 months." My body's communication methods were shut down after hearing that. Red contract were the ones that had higher percentage of dying than coming out alive. They were situated in the most dangerous of places and normally they only lasted 2-3 months max. A 7-month red contract is almost unheard of._

 _"_ _You're not going to take it are you?" I asked, my voice slightly faltering with terror._

 _"_ _I've already signed on. I can't let Chris do it alone." I was crushed._

 _"_ _What about me and your daughter? What happens if you don't come back!" I quietly scream down the phone, conscious of not waking Grace up._

 _"_ _Don't speak like that. Of course, I will come home." I could tell that she was crying._

 _I had to relent, there was no use getting angry with each other in this situation. "Hey, hey, don't cry. I'll always support you. I just want you to be safe."_

 _"_ _I know. We're leaving tonight, I'll text you as much as I can."_

For another hour, me and Olivia sat on the phone to each other just talking. I filled her in on the plane journey and being alone with Grace for the first time for a long period of time. We spoke about anything to take our minds off what was going to happen in London tonight. In the middle of our conversation Grace woke up, so we turned to facetiming, so they could see each other. I loved watching both my girl's faces light up when they saw each other. When it was finally time to say goodbye, I let Olivia say goodbye to Grace first before I put her on the playmat and said my own goodbye. A goodbye filled with apprehension and love, soon after that the phone line went dead. I let out a deep breath before heading over and sitting to play with my daughter.


	2. Chapter 2

Noah:

It was early evening here in LA, which meant it was very early morning in London and Olivia had already left for an unknown location a few hours earlier. I was getting Grace's dinner ready when the front gate bell rang. I went over to the box inside the house that controlled the gates, I saw Elle standing there.

"Elle?" I asked over the intercom system.

"Hi Noah, can I come in?"

"Sure." I opened the gates and went over to the front door and opened it. I was confused as to why she was here.

Once Elle had made it to the door and walked in, I went back straight over to preparing dinner, I had to maintain the schedule Grace was on. I noticed Elle looking around the house, she had never been inside. "Like it?" I asked her with a grin on my face.

"It's nice. Is it just you 3 living here?" It then clicked that she thought Olivia was here.

"At the moment it's just me and Grace. Olivia is working." I said while walking over to Grace to pick her up. I placed her in her highchair and put a stick of cooked carrot in front of her for her to nibble on with her 2 teeth. Elle was watching my every move. "So, what brings you round?"

Elle's head snapped back to me after watching Grace slobber over the soft orange item "I wanted to explain earlier and say I'm sorry." I was not expecting that.

"Sorry for what? I know it's a massive shock to suddenly turn up with a baby." I walked over to the highchair, pulled up a chair and started feeding Grace the pureed food I had just slightly heated.

Elle walked over and sat next to me, she stroked Grace's check, but she was too interested in her food to give a damn. "Walking out and getting upset, it was childish."

"I disagree. I would have been more freaked out if you ran over and hugged her." I motioned to Grace who was opening and closing her mouth in the rhythm I was feeding her in. "It's a big shock, your response was justified."

"Oh." Elle looked dumbstruck.

"Look Elle," I said as I placed the carrot back in front of Grace and placed the puree bowl down. I then turned to face her "the conversation where we talked about not being a couple and hurting Lee." She nodded "if you remember I said I'd love to be able to continue the closeness we had where we could talk to each other about anything." She nodded again. "I still want that."

Before either of us could say anything more, Grace began fussing. I looked between her and Elle, I smirked and picked up the bowl I had placed on the counter "here." I handed it to Elle, "feed her." I said moving out the chair, so Elle could sit opposite the hungry baby.

"Feed her?" she looked at me terrified.

"Yeah. It's simple, get some on the spoon and move it towards her mouth and wait for her to open her mouth then put the spoon in her mouth. Don't force it in though." I demonstrated it, with Grace being my ever so compliant assistant.

I kept my eye over Elle as she became more confident feeding Grace, I quietly laughed to myself when she made different noises while moving the spoon from the bowl to Grace's messy mouth. Once the bowl had been finished I ran a flannel under the tap and wiped it across Grace's face to remove the collection of pureed food around her mouth. I then took the bowl off Elle and placed it in the dish washer. I walked back over to my daughter and picked her up, she squealed as I slightly tickled her sides. "Elle, do you have anywhere to be?"

"No, not really. Why?" She had moved from looking at me, to looking at Grace with a smile on her face.

"Do you want to help me bath and bed this munchkin?" I tickled Grace's sides slightly again to achieve another squeal.

Elle lit up "I'd love to." I smiled at her and handed over the smelly baby.

"Great. Warning you now, you're going to get wet!" I said while grabbing a few things and leading Elle upstairs. We made it into the bathroom and I motioned for Elle to place Grace on the floor. I sat down in front of my baby and started taking her clothes off. "Don't worry, I'll do her diaper." I said while making nice work on cleaning her up before I placed her in the bath that I had run while Elle was finishing feeding her. I picked up a naked Grace and place her in a plastic contraption that kept her safe in the bath. "Come kneel next to me." I said to Elle who promptly got on her knees at the side of the bath. I squeezed some baby shampoo into her hand and she set to work slowly rubbing it into the baby hair.

"This is oddly relaxing." I said while carefully pouring water from a cup to get rid of the soap suds, like I had shown her how to.

"She's calm at the moment, wait till she gets excited and starts kicking her feet." And just like clockwork, once I had lathered Grace in body wash, there was water everywhere. I was soaked head to toe and Elle was slightly drier but still would need a change of clothes.

Once I had fully dried and placed Grace into a onesie for bedtime, I turned back to Elle "can you read a book her to while I go sort her milk out?" she nodded, and I showed her how to sit in the rocking chair and placed Grace on her and handed a book.

I went downstairs and made a bottle quickly, conscious that Elle was alone with the baby upstairs. I grabbed my phone from the couch and went back up. I first went to get some spare clothes for Elle and once I had arrived in the nursery, the book was finished, and I quickly took Grace out of Elle's arms. I handed the clothes to her "here, I'll put her down. You go get changed." She took the clothes from me and I assumed went into the bathroom.

I sat in the rocking chair, positioned Grace on me and placed the bottle in her mouth. I played the recording of Olivia singing a lullaby on my phone. She had recorded it shortly before we left so she would still be involved in Grace's night-time routine.

It was towards the end of the recording when she had finished the bottle and her eyes drooped shut. As I slowly got up, I saw Elle in the door way. I brought my finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet as I placed Grace in the crib and turned on the monitor. I kissed my daughter before quietly walking out the room and shutting the door behind me.

"That was really sweet. I never would have imagined you doing that." Elle said while we were making our way down the stairs.

"I guess I changed when she was born." I smiled at the memory of seeing my baby girl the first time.

 _Olivia had been in labour for almost 15 hours before Grace decided that it was time to make an appearance. I was tired, Olivia was exhausted and at 4:34am a baby girl with dark brown hair was born. Her hair lightened in a few days and we knew instantly that we'd name her Grace Keira Flynn._


	3. Chapter 3

Noah:

Grace had been down to bed for an hour, me and Elle had just hung out watching TV downstairs. It was nice spending time with her, and not being worried about anyone coming in unexpectedly. Elle was the first to break the comfortable silence, "When did you get back?"

"This morning at like 6am." I replied while rubbing my temples. I was so close to falling asleep on the couch.

"Ouch. That's rough. Did Grace sleep on the flight?"

"Yeah. I brought the bassinet that goes with the stroller over there." I motioned to the expensive piece of equipment that also had a car seat attachment.

"Oh, where did you put it?" Elle asked obviously confused as to where the large bassinet would have been placed on the plane.

"Err, we flew business class. It was easier for the baby and bags." I tried to justify, not that I needed to because we had flown business on family vacations before, but I felt that a transatlantic flight in business for a 20-year-old and his baby needed some explanation.

"Oh ok. How long are you staying?" Elle quickly changed the subject.

"Indefinitely at the moment." We nodded in unison "but for a while it'll only be me and Grace." Elle was about to reply when my phone rang the special ringtone I had placed in for Olivia. "Sorry, I've got to take this." I moved over to the kitchen island, still aware Elle could hear everything I would say.

 _"_ _Hey, is everything ok?" I asked._

 _"_ _Yeah. Everything is fine. Just checking in for your first night." I was relieved that she was just checking in; in my head I thought it may have been something else._

 _"_ _Yeah, she went down about an hour ago, she was knocked out before the song even finished." We both chuckled. "Elle came by and helped me feed and bath her."_

 _As soon as I said that I felt like Olivia had gone distant "that's nice." She said in a tone that was very unlike her._

 _"_ _Everything ok?" I repeated._

 _"_ _Yeah. Yeah. Listen I better go. Give Grace a kiss for me."_

 _"_ _Sure. Speak to you soon."_

 _"_ _Ok. Love you."_

 _"_ _Love you too." I replied and then pressed the end call button._

I walked back over to the couch and Elle "is everything ok?" she asked, repeating what I had said on the phone twice.

"Yeah it's good." I replied, hoping she wouldn't see that I didn't believe it myself.

Another phone ring caught me off guard, this time it was Elle's phone. I looked over and saw the caller id 'Dylan'. As soon as Elle noticed it, I saw a complete shift in her body, she became all rigid and on edge. She said sorry as she walked out the front door to take the call; in the meantime, I decided to look up this kid on my almost deserted Facebook account. I found him through Elle and he looked like a decent guy, a picture of them both was his profile picture and they had tagged each other in photos on Elle's timeline. From the outside he looked like a good guy, but I could recognise the body signals coming off Elle and they weren't good; just like the signals when I first showed them Grace. Something was off.

Before I could go deeper into his profile, Elle walked back in. "Hey, I need to go. Thanks, though I enjoyed hanging out with you and Grace." She uneasily smiled at me. I walked her to the gate and watched as she walked in the direction of her house. I needed to find out what was up, but right now what I needed more was sleep so I'd be what Grace needed in the morning.

~#~#~#~

I tossed and turned from the moment I got into bed till now, it was coming up to 5am. It was difficult to go to sleep in a bed by myself, having Grace down the hall and my mind ticking over not only the safety of Olivia but also speculating on what was going on with Elle. I decided that I wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight than the hour and I half I got around midnight, so I picked up my phone and sent a text to Olivia to see if she was awake. She replied almost instantly by ringing me.

 _"_ _It's 5am in LA, what are you doing up?" she asked in a sincere and concerned tone._

 _"_ _I couldn't sleep. New bed, having Grace on my own, without you … all that."_

 _"_ _Ah, so what else is on your mind because that's not all that is keeping you awake." I sucked at hiding things from her._

 _I debated with myself as to whether to bring up her complete change in our phone call earlier; she sounded like she was in a good mood now, so I thought it was probably the best time to bring it up. "Just thinking about the phone call earlier and how your tone changed."_

 _"_ _Did it?" she sounded surprised._

 _"_ _Yeah. After I told you about Grace's night and that fact that Elle helped." As I said that I realised I had just struck the problem._

 _"_ _Oh. I'm sorry. I was a bit put out that she was involved in my baby's bedtime and I wasn't. it was stupid."_

 _I sighed "it's understandable, don't beat yourself up over it. She still fell asleep to your lullaby though."_

 _I could feel her smiling through the phone "okay." She said softly, "I'd love to stay and chat, but you have to get some sleep and I have to go. I'll speak to you soon, love you."_

 _"_ _Love y…" I said began before the line went dead. Strange, she never hung up like that._

I looked back at the clock, it was now 5:25am. If I was lucky I would have around 3 hours of sleep before Grace woke up at 8:30. I placed my phone back down and turned over to try and sleep a little more.


	4. Chapter 4

Noah:

It ended up being 3 more months before I got Olivia on the phone again. We had texted each other but they had become scarce; our actual phone call only lasted 30 minutes before Olivia had to go. I hated being apart from her, but I knew this is what it would take to get her home for good and that is how I coped.

In the meantime, Elle had become a regular at my (Olivia's) house, she was involved in Grace's routine almost as much as I was. She'd babysit her when I had to run errands or go for a run to get away for an hour or so. I had made only 1 rule for Elle to follow and that was no Dylan in my house. I got an uneasy feeling from the guy and didn't want him around my now 9-month-old.

I had felt frustrated this morning when Grace decided that food no-longer was for her, we had battled with breakfast and then lunch, and I had had enough. Being stuck alone with a baby day-in day -out was tough; I'd scroll through my social media accounts and see the guys from the football team in high-school hanging out together and going to parties. Not that I didn't love Grace, I loved her so much, but I missed the freedom of being a 'normal' guy in his 20s. I called up Elle and asked if she could look after Grace for a few hours while I went out and de-stressed myself. She said she could so that is how I ended up where I am now, riding along the freeway towards the beach on my bike.

I pulled up at one of the many beaches that littered the coast line of the city. I saw a guy with long curly hair in the distance and knew instantly it was Tuppen. Elle had told me that they became close friends after I left so I thought I'd go down and chat with him. I made it down the sand-dunes and caught up with him near a group of guys I recognised. "Hey Tuppen." I said coolly as I came up beside him.

"Flynn?" he looked surprised, I just nodded my head "hey man, when did you come back?" he said while we bumped fists in the most childish of ways.

"About 3 months ago, haven't been out the house much."

"I bet, Olivia keeps you on a tight string" he winked, I knew what he was implying. I thought I'd play with him again, something I loved to do to get him confused and worked-up.

"Nah, it's now Grace keeping me inside the gates of my place." I watched as Tuppen and a few more guys from the team who had joined up looked at me in disbelief.

"Wait, so you and Olivia are no longer a thing?"

"Oh, we are. But she is working so Grace is taking up all my time." I smiled my old trademark sexy and sly smile. All the guys muttered to themselves, I heard player being thrown around too much for my liking anymore. I pulled out my phone from my shorts, cleared the texts on the screen so the guys would be able to see my screen saver.

I turned my phone around so they all saw the image of the little dusty blonde, blue-eyed baby peaking out of a large duvet. "This is Grace." All the guys went silent, nobody wanted to be the first to say it, so naturally I came out with it "Grace is my daughter." I as soon as I said that a flood of congratulations came my way from the of the guys. Most of them went soft at her image and told me how beautiful she was, reactions you'd expect from more feminine people than the guys on my old football team.

We sat on the sand and chatted away, the guys all filled me in on their lives since I left, I regretfully lied to them and said I got an amazing opportunity at a college in London which wanted me early. I obviously couldn't tell them the real reason I went off the radar. It got later and later and was around 6pm when I realised the time and thought I had better go and relieve Elle from the wrath of Grace. I said goodbye to the guys and walked back to my bike, that's when I saw a kid with his arm around 2 girls walking towards another car. I was just about to get on my bike when the kid turned around and I immediately recognised him, it was Dylan.

No way was I going to let him do whatever he was going to do with those girls, at least while he's still supposedly dating Elle. I walked over to the trio and called his name, he turned around and slyly smiled at me.

"Noah is it?" he smirked as the 2 girls recognised me.

"It's Flynn to you!" I said, my anger rising.

"Ok …" he dragged out "Flynn, what do you want. Can't you see I'm busy?" he motioned to the girls.

"I god hope you're not busy." I said between my gritted teeth, "because you have a girlfriend."

He laughed "that slut? Please I can do whatever I want." I lost it, calling Elle a slut was stepping far beyond the extended line I had placed since becoming a father. I launched at him, he fell immediately to the floor pathetically trying to punch me while I was laying into him.

I got lost in the adrenaline of the fight; sounds and the area around had blacked out and all I could see was this kid's face, my vision was turning red. I continued throwing punches until I felt two pairs of arms pulling me off, I looked to the side and it was Tuppen and another guy, Mark, from the guys I was just with. I saw others going over to pull Dylan off the floor, his face caked in blood. He most likely had at least a broken nose, I could have done way more damage if I was left longer with him. He did his best to smirk at me through his bloody face, I tried to lunge back at him but Tuppen and Mark held me down. They pulled me away from the area and back over to my bike, I was still very angry and was seconds away from breaking free and running after the kid again. I think Tuppen sensed how angry he was, so he spoke up "man, if you go back and kill that kid, your daughter at home is going to be left without her dad." As soon as Grace was mentioned I calmed instantly. I yanked my arms away from the grasps and shoved myself onto a nearby tree, ridding myself of the anger left over.

I walked back over to my bike where Tuppen and Mark had stayed to allow me to release my anger. "Thanks guys." I said, appreciating that they had stopped me from spending time in a jail cell. I was about to get on my bike and ride back home before I had a second thought "do you want to come over to chill with drinks?" They both looked at each other "my thanks for stopping that mess." I added.

"Sure, text me your address and we'll make our way over behind you." I smiled and text Tuppen the address of Olivia's, well my, house.

~#~#~#~

I pulled into the driveway and got off the bike. I took my phone out and saw that Tuppen had dropped Mark at home and had to stop for gas, so he'll be there soon. I walked into the house and spotted Elle feeding Grace in the highchair.

"Hey Shelly, thanks for being with Grace I lost track of time." I said while walking over and kissing my daughters head. I stopped in shock "you got her to eat?"

"Yeah." She smiled up at me "turns out chocolate yogurt and banana chunks is a winner." I smiled "and no problem, you deserve to let loose occasionally."

"You're amazing do you know that." I said in all honesty, I really appreciated her helping with Grace and giving me time to de-stress. She continued feeding Grace and cleaned her up to place her on the floor. Once Grace was settled amongst her toys, Elle walked over to the kitchen island where I was getting the first-aid kit out to clean up my hands.

"What happened?" she asked in a tone of dread, she had seen my hands like this before, always after a big fight. "I thought you said no more fights after Grace?"

"When someone deserves it, then I'll give them it." I responded, running my hands under the cool water of the tap. "You're probably going to be angry with me, but you and Dylan are no longer dating. You'll get a nasty text soon." I motioned to her phone.

"Noah! What the hell did you do?" she assertively replied, conscious that Grace was in the room.

"That piece of shit got what was coming. Walking away with 2 girls and then having the nerve to call _you_ a slut. I was on top of him in seconds." I watched as Elle knew what I was talking about and rubbed her temples.

"How badly hurt is he?"

"Your concerned about him? After how he treats you?" I asked in disbelief.

"How do you know how he treats me?" she asked, slowly getting worked up.

"I had a feeling, over the past few months and talking with the guys tonight confirmed it. No-one deserves to be treated like that Shelly." I said in a soft tone. She was about to reply when the bell from the front gates chimed in the house. I walked over to the box and let in Tuppen. "Tuppen is coming over for drinks as thanks for saving me from a cell. You're welcome to stay." I said, hoping my eyes conveyed the message I wanted her to stay.

"No, I better go and sort out the mess you've made." She replied in a bitter but mostly sad tone.

"Don't." I said, grabbing her arm lightly, she pulled away "you deserve so much more, Shelly." I saw a few tears creep into the corner of her eyes as she nodded and walked out the front door. She waved at Tuppen walking up to the door and got into her car and drove off.

"What was Elle doing here?" Tuppen asked me.

"She babysits Grace for me." I replied, taking in the smile on Tuppen's face.

"Ahh, this is where she rushes off to after school. Well anywhere is better than being with Dylan." I nodded and let he in, hoping that the rest of the night he wouldn't mention that dead kid walking's name.

Tuppen walked into the house and immediately spotted Grace on the floor "She's cuter in person." He said walking over and sitting in front of my daughter to play with her.

"Didn't take you for having kids as your soft spot, Tuppen." I said, grabbing a beer for each of us out the fridge.

"My sister came back from Florida with a baby last summer, I tried to help out as much as I could." I had completely forgotten Tuppen's sister, a girl who would up and leave disregarding anyone who cared for her.

"Your sister is back around?"

"She was." He paused and handed Grace a small thick book she loved to chew on "she left again, without the kid. My parents are his primary carers now."

"That's shit man, sorry."

"It's cool, the kid is way better off now she's out of the picture."

For another hour we watched highlights of the football season on TV, drank beer and played with Grace. Tuppen surprised me by being amazing with her. It was around 9pm when he left, and I started the process to put Grace to bed. Since she had stayed up a bit longer, she fell asleep almost instantly which meant I had time to myself to reflect on the mess that I had made today.


	5. Chapter 5

Noah:

The next morning, I decided that I would take Grace over to my parents for them to spend time with her. I of course had an ulterior motive for it too, Elle would most likely be at my parents' house, so I could find out what happened after she left last night.

I loaded Grace into her stroller and took the 15-minute walk from my house to theirs. Once I arrived I saw my mom out in the front garden with her gardening tools. She spotted me and came rushing over, I stopped and let go of the stroller, so she could hug me. Instead she went straight for Grace, undoing her straps and lifting her up. "Oh nice, I'm forgotten now someone cuter is here."

"Don't be silly honey, I'll pick you up and squeeze your sides next." My mom replied while squeezing Grace's sides to earn a squeal. Ever since she was a tiny baby, Grace would love to have her sides squeezed, something my family were more than happy to do.

My mom started walking off towards the house, leaving me standing alone in the driveway with an empty stroller. Just then I heard the roar of Lee's mustang pull up. I looked up and saw Elle in the passenger seat, looking at me with amusement. "Dude, you forgot the baby." Lee said pointing down at the stroller.

"Ha ha." I replied, collapsing the stroller and picking it up to place it inside the house.

I got into the house and waited for Elle and Lee to walk in, I motioned to Elle that I wanted to talk, and we went up to my old room, which was now another guest room.

Elle was the first to speak "this still freaks me out." I knew she was talking about the lack of my stuff in here.

"Yeah it does me too." I sat on the bed and she joined me "what happened then, last night?" I asked.

She shrugged "I made it back to my room and then I saw the said nasty texts. They had an unbelievable amount of profanities in them." I stared at the floor "I didn't respond so he rang me and kept ringing until I picked it up. He wanted to come to my house to 'talk'" she said raising her hands and making the " gesture.

"You didn't agree to that did you?" I asked shocked and scared of her response.

"No, I'm not an idiot or naïve little girl anymore Noah. You of all people should know that." I stared into her eyes "well, then again …"

I cut her off, knowing she's probably going to bring up something about me and her and her still being naïve to the world. "I know you're not." I clasped her hand into mine, swallowing it into the abys of my gigantic hands. I felt her stiffen up at the gesture before relaxing into holding my hand. "Continue."

"Well …" she stuttered, not knowing where to pick back up. "I said I couldn't meet him last night or today because I wanted to prepare myself. So, I said tomorrow." I slightly nodded my head "but I don't want to go alone."

"I don't blame you. I'll come don't worry." I let her lean into my chest and placed her head against my heart. I slowly fell backwards until we were lying down together, her hand still intertwined with mine. A position we had been in many times before.

"Thank you" she whispered against my chest.

~#~#~#~

I slowly opened my eyes a few hours later and found myself in the same position, although Elle had shifted slightly closer to me. I turned my head and saw that she was wide awake and looking at the ceiling. "How long was I out for?" I asked, she snapped her head to look at me before she drifted into a soft smile.

"About 3 hours I think. Haven't been sleeping well?" she asked, while squeezing my hand.

"You have no idea." I slightly chuckled because I would have probably burst if I didn't. I had barely slept the last month or so. I was constantly worried about Olivia and worried about Grace and worried about Elle. I was just worried in general, something that kept me tossing and turning all night. "I'd better get Grace home." I kissed Elle on the forehead and removed myself from the bed and walked out the door. I stopped in the door way, thinking I should turn around and explain what I just did, but I had no reasoning. I slowly turned around "I'll see you tomorrow to set this kid straight." I did my signature sexy smirk; her face was a complex canvas of confusion. I shook it off and walked down the stairs to see my mom and dad with Grace in the living area.

"I'm going to head off now." I walked over to pick up my daughter.

"We'll look after her tonight." My mom replied, I looked at her uneasy "Noah I have raised you, your brother and Elle for that matter, I also bought stuff for her recently meaning to take her a few nights to let you off the hook."

I was still unsure, since she was born I haven't spent a night away from her, but it would be nice to have no responsibility tonight and for Grace to spend more time with her grandparents. "Sure, okay. I'll pick-her up tomorrow." I saw my mom go into a wide grin. Good choice Noah, good choice.

~#~#~#~

I walked empty handed back to my house, I made my way to the gates and noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway. I keyed the code into the pedestrian gate and walked in. I walked around the car first, trying to get an inkling of who's it was before I went to the front door and opened it. Who ever it was had a key.

I cautiously walked into my home and around the corner, thanking god that I didn't have Grace with me now. I saw nothing out the ordinary, so I made my way through to the kitchen area and saw the back of a women with dark blonde hair. I knew that body shape anywhere "Liv?" I asked, shocked as to why she was here.

She turned around, obviously not hearing me coming in "Noah?" she said in an equally surprised tone. I smiled, and she almost ran across the floor and melted into my arms as I held her for dear life.


	6. Chapter 6

Noah:

I released Olivia from my tight hold and she moved away slightly "what are you doing here?" I asked, still reeling from the shock.

"We're passing through and I had to come see you." She said, her blue eyes delving deep into mine.

I smiled back at her "I'm glad you did." I said in all seriousness before launching my lips onto hers. I pressed deeper and requested entry with my tongue, she allowed me in and it quickly turned into a heated and passionate make-out session. I placed my hands on her butt and slowly lifted her off the floor, she wrapped her legs around me and pressed herself deeper into the kiss. I slowly walked over to the kitchen island and sat her on top of it. I positioned myself between her legs and moved down from her lips to her neck, making sure I was sucking enough to leave marks. I slowly ventured further down before Olivia pulled back when I reached the top of her breasts. I looked at her puzzled "what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She replied while stroking the hair on my neck "I'd love to continue this." She smiled and pulled me in for a sweet kiss "but I haven't seen my baby in forever." I sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of my neck where her hands had just been, her face fell "what?"

"I kind of left Grace with my parents tonight." I could tell she was close to tears "hey, we'll finish here, I'll text my mom and we'll go over there later?" I wiped a tear that had fallen onto her cheek.

"Okay." She whispered before wiping away her own tears "damn emotions, I was fine before Grace." We both chuckled. I went in to kiss her again and she pulled back, I looked her at with confusion. She placed her finger on my lips and hopped off the counter and walked towards the stairs. I smiled and followed her up.

~#~#~#~

We arrived at my parents' house in time for dinner. I had text them earlier telling them we were coming over. Me and Olivia walked in hand in hand; I saw Lee and Elle in the living area playing with Grace on the carpet, she was surrounded by more toys than I thought possible. My mom was in the kitchen space making dinner.

"Hey guys." She said as we walked in and Olivia went straight over to Grace. I saw Lee and Elle look very confused as she walked over. "I bet she's grown so much." My mom said to Olivia who now had Grace in her arms.

"Yeah" Olivia replied smiling her 100-kilowatt smile to our daughter. I couldn't help but smile myself too. "I hate that I have to leave her again." She continued while nuzzling Grace's neck and planting a kiss on her cheek.

For the rest of the evening while we ate dinner as a family and watched TV afterwards Olivia clung to Grace like she would never have the chance again. They both feel asleep watching the TV and in my arms, the way it was in London before I left.

We decided to still let Grace stay at my parent's house because she was settled in and she would only sleep at ours, Olivia wouldn't be able to have anymore time with her anyway. While Olivia said goodbye to Grace I walked over to Elle who was stood in the doorway watching the sad scene of a mother's goodbye to her young daughter. "I'm still coming with you tomorrow, just to let you know"

She turned and looked at me "no, you need to spend time with Olivia and Grace as a family." I could tell she was almost forcing the words out her mouth.

I let out a small breath "Olivia is leaving tomorrow, she's only passing through."

"Oh." She paused for a second, not knowing what to say next. "I'm meeting him at my place at 11am."

"Your place at 11, ok I'll swing by." I lightly smiled at her, knowing this wasn't going to be a simple casual get together. I then saw that if I didn't get Olivia away from Grace soon, then she'd never let her go. I walked up to them both and took Grace out of Olivia's arms. I said goodnight to my baby, kissed her, let Olivia kiss her one more time before handing her own to my mom and pulling crying Olivia into my body as we walked out together.

~#~#~#~

We were almost home before Olivia stopped crying "thank you for tearing me away, I would have held her forever if you didn't." I felt her slightly chuckle.

"I know." I kissed the top of her forehead. "What time are you going tomorrow?"

"Why? Trying to get rid of me already?" She said in a mock accusing tone, I knew that she would never doubt my loyalty; we had mutual trust that got us through everything.

"Elle is breaking up with Dylan tomorrow."

"Oh, what you told me earlier?" she replied, I had totally forgotten I had filled her in on it. I nodded. "What time?"

"11" I said looking down at her as she placed the code into the gates of our house.

"I should be on the way to the airport then, but a little detour won't hurt." She smiled and walked off towards the front door.

I stood for a second outside, having Olivia there as well would definitely help Elle's cause. It could also bring them closer together, something I wanted and something I knew Olivia wanted because Elle spent so much time with Grace. I walked into the house and saw Olivia grabbing a beer out my fridge. "A little detour won't hurt?" I questioned for a clarification.

She smiled at me and took a swig of the beer "100%".


	7. Chapter 7

Noah:

As we drove to Elle's house the next morning I couldn't stop fidgeting in my seat. I was nervous about what was going to happen with Elle and Dylan, I was nervous about Olivia leaving again in a few short hours and not knowing when I'll be able to see her again. We soon pulled up to Elle's house which took us around 20 minutes in the car because of traffic, much longer than I anticipated and it was now 11:05. I was never late, I hated being late; something I got from my dad, but here we were late.

Mr Evan's car wasn't in the drive, so I assumed he had gone somewhere with Brad, we both walked up to the front door and let ourselves in calling for Elle as we did. I heard a faint _"In here"_. The noise sounded like it came from the living room, so I lead Olivia down the hall and to the room at the end.

"Elle" I called again and saw her stood near the patio doors. I also saw Dylan stood near the fireplace.

"What is he here for?" he scorned at Elle. To me it looked like something had already happened between them both. Elle looked scared although slightly relived and was holding her arms into her chest.

"I came to help a friend!" I spat back at the asshole.

"You and what army? I could take you down in a second." He smirked back, clearing thinking he was gods gift to the entire world.

"Last time I recall I was the one punching you." I replied.

"This time I'm ready for your shit Flynn." He started to change his body language into more of a fighting stance if ever I had seen one.

"Hey, we're not fighting here." Elle interrupted. Normally I would be angry and pissed now, this guy and his attitude would have got the best of me, but I knew behind the door was Olivia who I was sure could 100% take down this idiot.

I heard footsteps and stood back and smiled "you may not be Elle, I maybe partial to it." Olivia came walking into the living room and came to a stop in the middle, directly at a cross road between me, Elle and Dylan.

"What are you going to do? Flirt with me darlin'?" I tightly gripped my fists together as Dylan winked at my girl and put on the most awful British accent.

"You'd be surprised." She took steps closer to him and placed her arm around his neck, circling it into his hair like she does with me. I glanced at Elle and saw her looking back at me, clearly watching to see how I'd react to the scene in front of me. She whispered something into his ear, he smirked at her and turned to face us all. "Now doll, what happened before me and Noah arrived?" Olivia asked Dylan while looking between him and Elle.

I looked back at Elle, she looked horrified. I couldn't tell if it was horrified because of the scene in front of us and Olivia looking like she was flirting with Dylan or horrified of what might be said. I turned my head back and saw Dylan smirking at Elle. "Not much, we decided to have a parting ways goodbye."

"That is not true!" Elle yelled unexpectedly. I swiftly walked over to her to comfort her as she had started to produce tears. On the other side of the room, Olivia was whispering again into Dylan's ear. His stupid smirk was clear that she was whispering flirtatious things.

"Elle what did happen then?" Olivia interjected before I had a chance too, Dylan's arm was now solidly around my girl's waist. I was pissed on the inside, but I knew Olivia had some sort of plan and I had to leave it there.

"We were just talking, then dad and Brad left, and he pushed himself onto me." From the way she was shaking I was certain what would have come next.

"How far?" I asked with my anger rising.

"Not far enough. Slut is now fucking virgin Mary." Dylan spat back over the room. Elle broke down and slipped to the floor. I looked back at Olivia and saw her ever so slight eye movement that I interpreted as to join her and stay with her. So I did, I sat down on the floor and pulled Elle close to me, she was racked with sobs but was still looking directly at Dylan and Olivia to see what would happen next.

"Elle, naïve Elle…" Olivia said and looked over to us in pity, I was impressed with her acting ability. "You should know that women are there simply to please a man, so you should give it anytime they want." Dylan smirked again and pulled Olivia closer by the waist. I was impressed with her acting ability, but my brain suddenly shot back to anger as Dylan pulled Olivia in even closer and she whispered something else into his ear. "Now what are we going to do with you?" she continued, focusing back on Dylan and moving her arm to ruffle in his hair.

"Anything you want babe." He replied with a smirk directed at me.

"Ok." Olivia said, her face agonisingly close to his neck. I couldn't bare to watch as she slowly got closer and closer, her lips almost touching his neck. I tensed up and was sure that Elle felt it as she gripped me harder.

Before either of us knew what was happening Dylan was on the floor. Olivia had used her arm around his neck to expertly yank him to the floor. Once Dylan had stopped rolling around in pain, she placed her foot on top of his stomach, obviously pressing down slightly because he groaned in pain. She crouched down, using her foot on the floor for balance so she didn't press into him anymore. "How much of a low-life are you?" she asked, Dylan just squirmed under her foot. "To think that I would walk in here, make advances on you in front of my boyfriend, allow you to speak like to did to girl, or let alone anyone, and still want to be around you?" Dylan squirmed again. "No-one is gods gift, even if they were you would certainly be so far down the line you're looking more at gods gift to a cow." She released her foot off his stomach and pulled him off the floor. "Say sorry to Elle before I kick your sorry ass to the curb."

He seemed to straighten up in her grip "No, remember you said earlier that women are then for men." I saw Olivia's face turn from angry to livid. She shoved him back to the wall.

"Unbelievable." She placed her hands on his shoulders to keep him against the wall. "Say sorry to Elle before I do more harm to you than you can imagine." Dylan this time shook his head no. "Well I guess you asked for this." Olivia produced a revolver from her back and started swinging it in her palm, "I suppose this is making you rethink that?" Dylan physically gulped. "Say sorry to Elle." She said again in a direct tone.

Dylan turned towards me and Elle still on the floor and mumbled. "I don't think we heard that Dylan." I responded while watching Olivia who was nodding in appreciation.

"Sorry Elle." He said in a volume that anyone in this section of the house would have heard it.

"That's better." Olivia replied to him, "now all you need to do is go home and explain to your mom, who is such a hard worker, how you've been kicked out all the schools around here and ruined her life … again." Me, Elle and Dylan all looked at Olivia in shock.

"How the hell do you know about my mom?" Dylan shouted.

"I have ways of knowing everything about people, like how your dad is currently serving 20 years for battery of a minor and your mom is doing the best she can for your 4 siblings. But oh no, little Dylan here, the eldest turns out to be the one that takes her up and down the country, in and out of jobs because he gets in shit." Olivia replicated Dylan's smirk.

"Your going to tell me right now how you know that!" Dylan demanded, trying to get Olivia's grip looser on his shoulders.

"Nope, no I'm not." She started twisting the gun around her palm again. "Instead, you're going to pack your bags. You're moving far, far away from this place and if you ever come back this will be waiting for you as soon as you even take so much as a glimpse at Elle." Olivia stopped twisting her gun and pointed directly at his temple. "Do you understand me?" She finished off with all seriousness.

I could tell words failed him in that moment, probably from the terror of having a gun pointing at his head. From across the room, I couldn't hear what he said but Olivia seemed happy and was suddenly shoving him out the house and outside. I walked up to the front window and watched Olivia almost push him into his car and watch him drive away.

I walked back over to Elle to comfort her again. Olivia took a little more time to walk back into the house. She came straight into the living room and over to me and Elle, she held out her hand and helped Elle get up. "Are you ok?" she asked looking her up and down to check nothing is wrong.

"Yeah, a bit shaken." She replied carefully eyeing the gun still in Olivia's hand.

She noticed what Elle was staring at and quickly smiled "look, nothing in it. I wasn't going to shoot a kid. The magazine is empty." Both me and Elle were relieved, there wasn't an active gun in the house. "Lee is also on his way."

"I have so many questions right now." Elle slightly laughed and sat on the couch. "What just happened and how did you know he's moving?"

"Well, you're officially single and last night I did a little search on the guy, found stuff I didn't like and that is a big understatement so got my friend to sort it to keep you safe in the future. It was no big deal."

"No big deal? It was amazing and slightly terrifying." Elle responded to Olivia in awe.

"People Noah cares about are people I care about. Also, you spend time around Grace, I can't have my daughter around people like that." I grinned, Olivia was truly my amazing girl.

Before the conversation you go any further, Lee walked in and went straight to Elle. "Thanks Olivia." He said while pulling his best friend into a hug.

"Hey I helped too!" I said, wanting to be involved.

"Yeah I'm proud of you." Olivia said kissing my check, while both her and Elle laughed. "Listen guys, I hate to go but I have a plane to catch." I sighed, I knew it was coming but I got caught up in the events and had completely forgotten. I pulled her closer to me and inhaled the scent of her hair.

"Ok. Thanks so much for helping, I don't think Noah could have done it on his own." Elle said, standing up.

"I think he could, but you'd have a massive cleaning and medical bills on your hands." We all laughed. "No problem Elle. Hopefully we'll speak soon!" Olivia smiled and pulled her into one of her strong hugs.

She bid farewell to Lee as well before we walked out the house and turned back to Lee and Elle in the doorway "see you guys soon." She waved, and we got into the car. Me and Olivia shared a small kiss before I drove off to deliver her to the airport.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** **Sorry for the delay in posting, I'm struggling a bit with finding ideas for chapters because there needs to be more time passed before I start writing the events leading up to the end of this book. I don't want to keep doing time skips, so I'm trying to add chapters that will help you guys to understand the ending more.**

* * *

Noah:

After I dropped Olivia off at the airport I went straight to my parent's house to pick-up Grace. I walked into the living space and saw my mom lying on the floor playing with my baby. "Hey mom …" I said while joining her on the floor.

"Noah honey, she stood up earlier." My mom said grinning like the Cheshire cat. She got up and pulled out her phone "here I got it on video." I watched as Grace pulled herself up on the couch and let go and stood for a second before falling to the floor.

I broke into a huge grin and went over to pick her up. "Did you stand up?" I asked her in my 'mushy' voice, as Elle put it, that was only reserved only for her. "do it again to show daddy?" I placed her on the floor, sat on the couch and then reached out for her hands. I placed them on the couch and waited to see what she would do. Sure enough, she pulled herself up and then let go, standing for a split second before crashing to the floor in a huge grin. "Gracie I'm so proud!" I beamed and pulled her in for a hug. I looked over to my mom "can you send me the video, so I can forward it on?"

"Sure." She replied while tapping on her phone "I think she'll be walking before her first birthday." She proclaimed watching me bounce Grace up and down on my knee.

"You think so?" she nodded "isn't it too early though?" I asked knowing that both me and Lee were over a year old when we started walking and Elle began walking slightly after Lee.

"It's not a problem, some babies are ready sooner than others. But you have to be careful that it's not too early or her legs may grow slightly bent."

"Okay. We'll have to see won't we." I said to Grace instead of my mom.

Me and Grace were just about to head off back to our house as Lee walked in. "Noah." He shouted from the garage door.

"What?" I shouted back as I was loading up the car with Grace on the driveway.

"Can you drop Elle off at school tomorrow and pick her up, I'm going over to Rachel's tonight and spending the night." He winked at me, _gross._

"Sure, why do I need to pick her up too?"

"Going to meet up with my lab partner for a project. Remember Elle has soccer tomorrow as well."

"Yes, I remember. Text her I'll be there at 8 tomorrow morning."

Me and Lee nodded to each other before he disappeared into the house and I got into my car and drove out the gates of my childhood home.

~#~#~#~

The next morning, I was ready well before I needed to collect Elle, so I decided to take Grace back to my parents, so I could use my bike this morning. I knew my mom was on a break from her job at the hospital, so she'd be there to look after her.

I arrived at Elle's house at 8am on the dot, she was already stood outside. Her eyes went wide when she saw the bike "couldn't you just be thoughtful for once and drive a goddamn car?" She exclaimed with not attention to her voice that probably woke the neighbours up.

"Nope, see I remember you got to love the bike. I thought why not give you a spin again." I plastered my trademark smirk across my face.

Elle didn't reply, she simply lifter her eyebrow and stretched her arm out for me to give her the spare helmet. She clicked the helmet in place then joined me on the bike, her arms whipped around my waist faster than a bullet. "You're not scared, are you?" I asked out of concern of her recent action.

"A bit. I haven't been on it in like 2 years and I know you haven't rode it in that time too. I don't want to die or have my hair a mess before school." I laughed.

"To clear your head, I had a bike in London, so I never stopped riding." I felt her slightly relax her arms knowing that information. Before she could second guess herself, I pushed off with my feet and sped down the road, purposely going a little faster than I used to, to make her nervous again so her grip would tighten.

Once we arrived at the school I saw loads of heads turn the familiar sound and sight of me and my bike. I also saw kids staring at me in confusion and then moving to Elle and staring in jealously. I thought the ones doing that must be either juniors or seniors as the other grades wouldn't know who I was.

Elle hoped off the bike and unclipped the helmet "thanks for the ride."

"no problem. I'll be right here to pick you up too." I smiled at her as she nodded and turned around to walk into the school. I saw a few glances that people gave as they watched our exchange and Elle walking away and I knew she was going to get interrogated today. I quietly chuckled to myself before speeding away from the school on my bike.

~#~#~#~

When it came to picking Elle up, my mom had been called to an emergency at the hospital, so I had no-one to take care of Grace since my dad was on a business trip. I arrived at the school in the silver Jeep I had seen when Olivia first came home. Grace was in her car seat in the back. On the way over we had been stuck in traffic, which I anticipated, so once I had parked up I decided to pick-up Grace to get her out the car seat while we waited for Elle to finish her practice.

The school parking lot of quieter than this morning because only sports teams stayed after, but I still got funny looks from the majority of people as they walked out to see Noah Flynn holding a baby.

It was around 4:30 when Elle finally showed up at the entrance to the school. She saw me towards the middle of the lot and jogged over, she was still in her soccer kit. "You brought Grace?" She said while tickling her cheeks.

"Yeah, mom got called to an emergency." I passed Grace over to Elle, "mind buckling her up? The coach is over there, and I want to say hi." I motioned over to the steps of the school.

"Ur, sure." Elle replied to me before taking Grace around to the other side of the car.

I jogged over to the coach who saw me coming "Flynn. How are you?" we shook hands.

"I'm good sir, back in LA now for good."

"That's nice. You better have kept playing football."

I looked at my feet "There wasn't a team around, so I couldn't." For some reason I thought that he looked disappointed "but I started playing rugby quiet regularly, so I didn't fully drop out of sports."

The coach smiled "did I see you holding a baby over there?" he pointed towards the silver Jeep.

"Yeah sir, my daughter, Grace."

"Congratulations." He smiled and shook my hand again "I best be going, son. Take care."

I bid goodbye to my old coach and walked back to the car. Elle was already in the passenger seat, so I went straight and hopped into the driver's side. Once I turned on the engine I noticed that Elle had synced her phone, so it immediately started playing some sort of baby song. "Turn that off! Grace is going to be a cool kid, not a weirdo like you and Lee."

"Hey!" Elle slapped my wrist as I reached to the music controls "you're just extremely upset that you can't win at DDR. With your long limbs." She poked my leg and laughed.

"I could if I tried!" I tried to protest. "If your music is on, put something decent on. Please." I emphasized with a pout.

"Fine. Now home chauffer."

"I'm not your chauffer, my client is in the back demanding a quick and smooth drive. Thank you very much." I drove out the parking lot and towards Elle's house.


	9. Chapter 9

Noah:

Once I had dropped Elle off at her house, I made it back to mine just in time for Grace's favourite TV show. I sat her on the floor surrounded by some toys, put the TV on and then went over to the kitchen island to contemplate what I should do with my life. I needed to start making my own way and stop relying on what Olivia provides. Even though she provides more than anyone could imagine in their whole life, at the tender age of 20 she probably had at least triple the amount of money my parents have now.

I was getting pretty bored doing the same thing every day and finding a job somewhere would definitely mix stuff up a bit. But I wouldn't have anyone to care for Grace; my parents are unreliable with their work schedules and Elle would be at school and her own soccer practices, no way I'd trust Lee to look after her alone. I decided to go to the best person I could think off for advice, I sent a quick text to my mom.

 **Noah: Hey mom, can you stop by quickly on your way home. I need your help.**

I was expecting a reply in an hour or so, as that was the usual when she was working. Instead I got an almost instant reply.

 **Mom: I'm heading home now. I'll be 30 mins. X**

Well that's better than waiting the whole afternoon for her advice.

~#~#~#~

Sure enough, 30 minutes later my mom walked into my house. She headed straight over to where I was sat on the couch with Grace lounging on top of me watching some kids show on TV with her pacifier in her mouth.

I smiled at her as she sat down "what do you need help with?" she asked while motioning for me to hand over Grace.

I passed the baby over to my mom before continuing. "I want to do something more than just look after Grace all day. I want to be able to provide for her myself regardless of what Olivia does." My mom was nodding along, "I thought about speaking to dad about it, but I have no reliable childcare for her." I motioned to Grace on her lap.

"Well I've been thinking for a while now of suggesting to you that you put Grace into day-care for a few hours a week. To give you a break and let her interact with others now she's a bit older."

I was apprehensive at the thought of day-care. I wouldn't be able to protect her there, not that she needed it, Grace was already a ballbuster. But I wasn't ready to leave her alone anywhere besides with family that I trusted. "I'm not sure." I replied to my mom.

"Noah, she'll be fine. She can go to the creche at the hospital for staff kids. There I'd be right on hand if needed." That would be far better than a random day-care near the house. "I think you need it too. You're a young man, you need to have your own time and space."

The more I thought about it, the more it was sounding like the best way forward. Grace wouldn't be at day-care for long, a few afternoons a week may do her good. "Okay, I'll talk to dad soon. Can you sort the creche stuff out?" I asked my mom.

"Truth be told, I'd had a place ready since you came home. I knew you'd need it at some point." She smiled at me.

As soon as my mom left I called up my dad, I knew he was on a business trip to New York, so it was evening there now, and he'd be finished for the day.

 _"_ _Son! How can I help you?"_

 _"_ _I've been thinking about the offer you made a while back. About learning the ropes and taking over the business in the future. I think I want to do it now."_

 _"_ _Oh." I never was nervous speaking to my dad, but this felt more like professional business and that I was nervous about. "That's fantastic. I was hoping you'd come around now Grace is here." I heard him laugh slightly. "Has your mom said anything?"_

 _"_ _No, well she just left. I told her my intention and we were talking about childcare."_

 _"_ _Good. I've always wanted you boys to make your own decisions. I'm back in LA in a few days, we'll have a sit down then."_

 _"_ _Ok dad. Bye."_

 _"_ _Bye."_

I hung up the phone and decided to text Olivia.

 **Noah: Might have got myself a job with dad. Already sorted out Grace with day-care x**

I didn't have to wait long for a reply.

 **Liv: That's great! Proud of you. Kisses to Grace x**

I was satisfied with what I had done that afternoon. I placed my phone down on the counter to charge and went over to play with Grace for a bit before I fed her and put her to bed.

~#~#~#~

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Grace crying through the monitor. I turned over to see that the clock said 9:40am, I groaned, Grace normally woke at 8 on the dot so she had been in her crib for almost 2 hours alone.

I quickly got up and walked into the nursery to be confronted with a distraught baby. I swiftly picked her up and bounced her up and down, saying comforting words as she slowly calmed down.

I had managed to get Grace to stop crying but she was still whimpering against me and refusing to let me go. I had suddenly become really concerned about her because this was not her normal behaviour. I picked up her bunny and walked out the nursery and down the stairs to the first aid kit. I tried to sit Grace on the counter, but she refused so I juggled her while trying to open the little pouch and fish out the thermometer. I couldn't find it, frustrated and with a now crying baby I went back to my bedroom, picked up my phone and proceeded to call Elle. As she was the one usually here with Grace, I thought she'd know where the thermometer was.

 _"_ _Hello?" I heard a groggy Elle say into the phone._

 _"_ _The thermometer, where is it?" I hurriedly asked, not bothering with pleasantries._

 _"_ _Noah?" she sounded confused._

 _"_ _Yes, it's me! Do you know where it is?" I started to get impatient before I remembered that she was never a morning person. She was more like an early afternoon is the best time for breakfast person._

 _"_ _Where what is?" I could hear her sit up and there was a muffle sound which was probably her running her hand over her face. Just then Grace decided to ramp up her crying. "Why is Grace crying?"_

 _"_ _I don't know, but I need the thermometer. Where did you put it?" I bounced Grace up and down on my hip, doing my best to calm her._

 _"_ _Shit. I took it home last time because we had lost ours and Brad had a fever. I'll bring it over now."_

 _"_ _Ok. Hurry please."_

I ended the call when I heard a muffled 'ok' and then what sounded like Elle falling off her bed. I slightly chuckled to myself before turning my attention back to Grace and placing my hand on her forehead as a primitive check. It felt slightly warm, but I was getting hot holding and bouncing her to calm her down, so I didn't know if she did have a fever or not.

I hoped Elle wouldn't faff around like normal and she'd rush over here.


	10. Chapter 10

Noah:

Elle actually got to mine with the thermometer in hand quicker than I would have given her credit for. Or maybe time had flown by while I was trying to calm Grace down, it didn't really matter. I was sat on the couch in the living area when I heard the door open and Elle call through, I replied to her saying we were on the couch and soon she appeared at the doorway into the open plan living/kitchen area.

"Morning." Elle said first while taking in the picture of my distraught baby. She walked over and took Grace from my clutch. "How long has she been like this?"

"Not as long as you think, I woke up to her crying over the monitor around 9:45 this morning. I thought she was upset she'd been left but she hasn't stopped crying. She feels a bit warm to touch too." As I was explaining our morning to Elle, I couldn't focus on what I should be. I was trying my hardest to look at her face, but she was bouncing up and down to calm Grace, meaning her assets were moving in the same motion. The feelings I had towards her that I'd buried deep after the world found out about our secret relationship were bubbling back to the surface. ' _Focus Noah! You have a girlfriend and a sick baby'_ I kept telling myself, but she was so distracting.

I got drawn out of the gutter of my mind to a particularly high-pitch wail from Grace. I snapped back into my daddy role and took the thermometer off the kitchen surface and placed it into Grace's ear to wait for the beep. As soon as the sound went off and I saw the number I went into panic mode, she had a fever of 104. "It's 104!" I panickily said to Elle.

"Calm down, you being all panicky isn't going to help." She told me, and she continued to try to comfort Grace. "Call your mom, see what she says?" she suggested.

I nodded and grabbed my phone, immediately dialling my mom's number.

 _"_ _Morning son." She greeted me quietly pleasantly_

 _"_ _Mom! Grace is sick!"_

 _"_ _Woah calm down." I saw Elle chuckle out the corner of my eye when my mom said that over the speaker. "What's wrong with her?" she calmly asked._

 _"_ _I don't know. She's crying hysterically, and she has a fever of 104." I ran my hand over my face "she hasn't stopped crying since she woke me up over the monitor at 9:45."_

 _"_ _Ok. A fever is normally not too worrying but if she hasn't stopped crying that's a bit worrying, you better get her checked out. The emergency room will probably see you quicker than the doctor's office so go down there."_

 _"_ _Okay. Thanks mom."_

I hung up before I could hear her reply and walked back over to Elle and took Grace out of her arms. "Mom says to take her to the emergency room."

"I heard. I'm coming with you!" Elle declared while walking over to the stairs.

"No, we'll be fine." I said trying to lie to myself more than anything, Grace had never done this before and I had to admit I was slightly terrified. I then realised Elle was heading up the stairs "where are you going?"

"No excuses I'm coming!" I sighed with relief "And I'm getting her some clothes and diapers just in case." She shouted down from upstairs. She always thinks of the little things that Grace would need, I'd always thought she'd be a great mother but seeing her with Grace over the past 6 plus months has confirmed what I've always known.

~#~#~#~

We made it to the emergency room and went straight over to the receptionist to check Grace in. Once all the details were sorted, me and Elle took a seat in the waiting area, Grace was on Elle's lap facing us as we tried to entertain her and keep her crying at bay.

Luckily because she was a baby, we were called into a room to see the doctor pretty quickly. I explained what had happened earlier in the morning and the doctor also asked what we had done over the past few days. The doctor was stumped as much as I was, he took her weight and measured her height. He took her temperature which had gone up to 105 now. Grace was not happy through-out the whole process, she wasn't a baby that liked to be messed with. As soon as I saw the next piece of equipment get pulled out I knew we were in for a meltdown.

"Ok last thing to check is her blood pressure." The doctor said while the nurse was securing the cuff onto Grace's leg.

I decided to take Grace from Elle's grasp and I placed her onto my hip, I swayed lightly as Elle tried to distract her as the cuff slowly got tighter. What we were doing wasn't helping much as she cried out and swung her arms down to her leg to get the cuff off. I had to admit I was close to tears, hearing my baby cry like that was the worse thing in the world.

As soon as the machine beeped I knew there was a problem, I was no doctor, but I was into fitness and when I was an expectant father I read almost all the books on babies. So, I knew that her blood pressure was way too high, even with the extra numbers added onto it because of her distress.

The world then seemed to slow down, every second seemed like it took 5 minutes. All of my peripheral view was blank with only streams of white flashing breaking through. I looked straight to Elle who was stroking Grace's hair and squeezing her hand, she was smiling at my baby and telling her what a good girl she was. I then focused my vision onto the nurse and doctor conferring near the door of the examination room. The nurse left the room as the doctor wrote his final notes down and walked over to us. He placed his hand on my back and guided me to sit down on the chair. I felt a body sit next to me and a hand was placed onto my knee. I turned ever so slightly and saw Elle's now worried expression, she must have seen the doctor's face. I held Grace close to me as she whimpered against my chest. I couldn't explain it, I just had this feeling, I didn't know what it was, but it terrified me.

Just then the world came back to its normal passing of time. It felt like all of a sudden, I had sped up and everything was now back to a second being a second. The doctor started talking.

"Mr Flynn."

"Call me Noah please." I said. The doctor already knew about my situation and who Elle was after the nurse called Elle 'mom' while referring to Grace.

He nodded "I think you know that Grace's blood pressure is way too high." I nodded and kissed my babies head.

"It's just an infection, right?" Elle interrupted, "like you can give her anti-biotics?"

The doctor shook his head "this is hard to say, but with a blood pressure reading at the level that we just took, I'm shocked that this baby appears like she does. Most babies sadly aren't still here with a blood pressure of that reading."

What he said confirmed my worse nightmare. I already felt like every day I was a step closer to losing Olivia. Now it was a thousand steps closer to loosing the most precious thing in my life. I then felt Elle squeeze my knee with all her might that it actually hurt a little, but I didn't care I needed her comfort.

"So," the doctor continued "the nurse has gone to notify the intensive care unit and to send someone down to us."

"Why does she have to go to intensive care?" Elle asked, while I was stunned and silent.

"So, her blood pressure can be brought back to a safe level and then we'll investigate what caused it."

"But can't that be done here or on a normal ward?" Her tone was laced with panic. Instantly I knew that Elle didn't quite grasp that severity of what was happening; I barely could.

"Grace is very ill, and she needs monitoring closely."

As is on cue, the nurse walked back in with another man. He reached his hand out to me "I'm Matt, the attending lead in the PICU." Me and Elle shook his hands while saying our names. "If you'd both like to follow me, we'll take Grace up to the bed we've prepared."

I nodded and stood up with Grace clasped to my hip. With Elle close by my side we entangled our hands and closely followed the attending up to the PICU. On the way, Matt was explained what would happen once we got there.

We had made it to the doors leading to the PICU, the place seemed that most secure place I've ever seen in a hospital. Matt swiped his card and opened the door, we followed him into a large open space with a desk in the middle. Around the side there were individual glass fronted rooms with blinds. Matt walked us into the room at the far end of the open space, it was in the corner and had windows fully across 2 walls. But in front of the windows was a bed I could fit in and a dozen nurses surrounding it. I laid Grace down on the bed and stroked her hair and held her hand. Elle was on the other side holding her hand as Grace began to cry. In that moment I just wanted to join my baby and cry with her, but I knew she'd become even more scared if I started crying. Instead I muttered words to her, I told her how much I loved her, and I'll stay right here.

The doctor stood at the top of the bed then placed the tube carrying the sleeping gas close to Grace's face. I watched her intently as her eyes slowly closed and her head lolled to one side. I kissed her head and headed out the room. I immediately enveloped Elle into a hug and held onto her for dear life. I couldn't remember being given the monitor machine that would tell us when we could go back. Before I knew it was I sat on a bench of seats in one of the hospitals long corridors.

For a while I stared straight ahead of me, I couldn't move, I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't feel anything. I was numb in all sense of the word.

I sensed someone sit down next to me and slowly the feeling of my back being rubbed got the attention of my nervous system. I buried my head into my hands and cried.

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